"Ah Guang! Ah Guang! Stelle! Stelle, wake up!"
Inside the train, Pei Guang and Stelle suddenly opened their eyes.
As soon as they did, they saw March 7th, Pom-Pom, Welt, Himeko, and Dan Heng all looking at them with worried faces.
Seeing Pei Guang open his eyes, March 7th let out a huge sigh of relief. "Phew! Finally, you opened your eyes. You scared me to death. Do you know? Right when the warp finished, you and Stelle suddenly flew out! Look at you, that fall was miserable~"
March 7th pulled out her camera and found the photo she had just taken.
In the photo, Pei Guang was lying flat on the ground, left arm raised with his index finger pointing at the floor.
Stelle didn't look any better; she was sprawled out like she had been possessed by something.
Stelle leaned closer, saw the photo, and nodded with satisfaction. "I look good."
March 7th: "Hey hey hey, how did one fall turn you this narcissistic~"
Pei Guang got up and curiously looked at the others. "How long were we unconscious?"
Dan Heng: "One minute fifty seconds… Did you… experience something?"
Pei Guang nodded. "Stelle and I entered a dream. In that dream we met two pretty interesting people, but unfortunately the dungeon's mechanic is that leaving it wipes the affection accumulated. Otherwise, before even entering Penacony, we'd already have connections with a superstar!"
Hearing that, March 7th got excited. "Eh? Superstar connections?"
Pei Guang: "Yeah! We met Robin in the dream, even took photos together, look~"
Pei Guang pulled out his camera.
Everyone gathered curiously, but the moment they saw the photo, silence fell.
March 7th gave a stiff smile. "As expected of you two… even in dreams you can mess with someone like that…"
Himeko's face froze as she saw the picture of Robin holding a wine glass filled with sweet and sour pork in red wine.
She couldn't even imagine what chaos this photo would cause if it ever got out.
Robin was a galactic superstar!
Though there was plenty of information about her, what she displayed in public had always been the perfect idol image. Everything else was mostly fan creations.
But now Pei Guang actually had such a photo.
If it spread, never mind the fans' heartbreak: the nickname "Abstract Goddess" would be set in stone.
Pei Guang looked proudly at March 7th. "How can you call this messing with her? We had lots of fun in that dream. And she even agreed that I could do whatever I wanted with the photo. Let's see if I can trade it for something good."
March 7th: "I get it, I get it~ Things you gain before an exploration can be useful for the exploration itself, hehe~ I remembered everything you taught me."
Pei Guang: "Very good, very good~ but speaking of which, shouldn't we head to Penacony now? I can't wait to explore the new map."
Himeko nodded beside him. "Yes, but don't you two need to rest a bit first?"
Pei Guang: "I feel fine. Stelle, what about you?"
Pei Guang turned his gaze to Stelle.
Her expression was still somewhat dazed since, unlike him, she really had been affected by the dream. But fortunately, when she looked again at the photos they'd taken there, she gradually came back to herself.
Stelle: "I…"
She was still a bit lost.
Seeing her like this, Himeko thought for a moment and said, "Looks like she still needs to rest. How about this: Welt and I will go handle the check-in. It'll take a long time in line anyway. In the meantime, you two rest up."
Himeko and Welt left first, while Pei Guang and March 7th stayed behind to wait for Stelle to recover.
Seeing Stelle still half-dazed, Pei Guang couldn't help but tease: "Good grief, you actually got affected by that dream? Don't tell me this 'affection reset' counts as a mental attack? You got hit by it and turned out like this? Maybe you should consider stacking more mental resistance affixes."
While Pei Guang and Stelle rested, in her own room Robin awoke from the Dream.
"Mmm~ I had… quite an interesting dream?"
She felt refreshed upon waking, but at the same time touched her throat. The discomfort there told her that the problem hadn't improved.
Feeling her condition hadn't improved, Robin's mood sank a little.
But just as she was staring down at her toes, out of the corner of her eye she noticed something shocking: something that definitely hadn't been in her room before.
She instinctively turned her head, and what she saw almost made her heart stop.
She had already forgotten the details of her dream, but she still remembered someone giving her a gift, and that gift seemed to be… this trash can?
Getting a trash can as a gift… well, not impossible to understand. She had heard that on some planets trash cans were even considered a specialty.
But the problem was: why did a trash can from her dream show up in reality?!
Even though Penacony could bring things from dreams into reality, for something from her own dream to appear here… no matter how she thought about it, it didn't make sense!
Robin didn't even know how to complain about this anymore.
But since the gift had materialized, she couldn't help but feel curious: what was so special about this trash can?
She decided to approach it.
She noticed a black seam between the lid and the body of the bin. That black seam looked so mesmerizing, so dazzling.
At the same time, in this trash can, she seemed to see something else—something special.
The trash can spread open its nonexistent arms.
Clearly just an ordinary trash can, yet it felt like it was extending an invitation to her.
Its inside seemed like a paradise that could hold anything. Standing here, it was as if billions upon billions of trash cans were resonating with it, all voicing the same sound, all singing the same song, all welcoming anyone into their embrace.
This was an invitation from the trash can—no, from the entire family of trash cans.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
Robin told herself that she had traveled all across the universe, and seen plenty of bizarre things. Even when faced with Pei Guang's absurd antics, she had only felt surprised, baffled, maybe even amused, but never like this.
But this time? This time she truly felt like she had seen a ghost.
This was a trash can! Just a trash can!
The feeling was like taking a stroll through the Dreamscape, only for a trash can to suddenly jump out to fight you, and worse yet, you might even lose to it.
Thinking this, Robin opened the lid of the bin.
Looking at the space inside, she realized it really was oddly inviting.
The space within was natural, seamless. Not too big, not too small, just enough for a person to step inside.
But why would anyone step inside a trash can?
At this moment, Robin was making a sanity check.
Unfortunately, unlike Pei Guang, she didn't have the skills for it, so she rolled a critical failure, while the trash can rolled a critical success.
She took a deep breath.
Glancing at the time, she realized there was still a while before her meeting with her brother, Sunday.
Such an alluring trash can…if she didn't go in and try it, she felt like she'd be missing out!
And the instant she stepped inside, Robin was struck with a strange sensation, like she herself was garbage, and had finally found the perfect trash can for her.
The bin was so comfortable, so reassuring.
How could a trash can possibly feel this perfect?!
Standing inside it, Robin couldn't help but close her eyes. She felt a mysterious sense of safety—safer even than what the Preservation Path itself offered.
The strange feeling compelled her to crouch down, and in that moment, the power of Preservation brought her peace, while the will of Harmony seemed to descend upon the trash can itself.
But just as she was sinking into this feeling, her room door opened.
"Sister…"
Her brother Sunday pushed open the door and immediately saw the trash can, with Robin inside it.
For once, even his well-traveled mind went completely blank at the sight.
He shut the door, took a deep breath outside, then opened it again with a smile.
"Sister…"
But it was the same scene as before.
At that moment, Sunday was certain: he wasn't dreaming. His sister, Robin, had really climbed into a trash can.
Looking at the scene, Sunday's expression grew grim.
How was he supposed to introduce his sister to others in the future?
Was he supposed to say: "This is my sister Robin. She's brave enough to crawl into a trash can!"